Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Thanksgiving is next week and we thought we would share some of our very favorite Thanksgiving books for children. Take a trip to your local library or buy a favorite to share for years to come. What are your favorite books of thanks?

Monday, November 12, 2018

As promised to my Facebook community, here is the tutorial for these very pretty Autumn Lanterns that we made at our home yesterday for Martinmas. These are very fun to make and come out so beautiful. We also did these in our New England Lifeways training and each and every student's lantern came out so unique.

Supplies Needed:

Different Colored Tissue Paper

Balloons

Old Paint Brushes

Glue

Jar

Water

Leaves (optional)

Blow up balloon and tie.

Place balloon in a bowl or on top of a wide mug, jar or cup to work.

Mix glue with 1 part water in a separate container.

Working carefully, paint glue mixture onto individual strips and pieces of tissue paper. You will be covering only half of your balloon, leaving the top half with knot open to make a bowl shaped lantern. Be sure to glue the underside of each strip of tissue as well as the top and keep layering and layering until you have a nice design that will be thick enough to stand firm after drying.

Experiment with different designs, transparency ideas or even consider gluing autumn leaves to your lantern.

When completed, place your wet balloon lantern on top of the same cup or bowl to dry overnight. In the morning pop your balloon and carefully pull out and away from your lantern.

We stapled star string for a handle. You can also punch holes on either side and tie with string or make a handle out of wire. If you decide to use real candles, please be very careful as the tissue paper can catch on fire. We chose to use battery operated votives and it was just perfect.

149 PAGES of Verses, Fingerplays, Poems, Song, Crafts, Meditations, Book Recommendations, Circle Times, Recipes and Much More to Guide You in Celebrating the Martinmas and Thanksgiving Festivals in Your Home or School!

Monday, November 5, 2018

November is such a beautiful month! Where we live the trees are in full color, the air is a bit cooler and the days feel longer especially after daylight savings time ended. Yesterday felt like the never-ending day in our house. At 7pm we could have sworn it was 11pm! Today is actually Bonfire Night and in the November Caregiver's Calendar we suggest enjoying an outdoor fire with your family or school tonight if possible. It's raining in our little spot in Connecticut today but this can be done anytime this month and is really fun to do during the fall. Roasting marshmallows doesn't have to be only a summer camping activity!
I've been working around the clock on so many Little Acorn things... including the Caregiver Calendars for 2019 which will be here soon, a beautiful November newsletter which includes Waldorf-inspired verses, songs, stories, recipes and more (by the way we are offering 50% off ads in it for any likeminded small business owners!), a special book I've been thinking of for a long time and tons of marketing of our current products.

Doing this for so long, it is amazing how many products we have put together over the years. Here are just a few for anyone new to Little Acorn Learning:November Preschool/Kindergarten Guide - this program is wonderful for a mixed aged group of children or young children under age 6. It is non-academic and truly beautiful helping to hold a rhythm through your days. Most of our customers use this as their base and add in more academic work for the older children as needed.

For those of you who use traditional schooling methods or homeschool the older grades, we've put together a Waldorf-inspired Afterschooling Enrichment guide for fun ideas to enjoy with your school-aged children! These activities are a bit more time consuming and better for children who need less assistance.

As many of you know, Martinmas is just around the corner on November 11th. We absolutely love this festival. It is the perfect time to make beautiful lanterns and really embrace autumn. Thanksgiving is coming as well and we made a pretty autumn nature table to celebrate. Many of the ideas and activities we enjoy most are put together in our Martinmas and Thanksgiving Festival Ebook for those of you who could use some festival-specific inspiration.

Also, remember we have sweet seasonal menus for you. This season we have the Autumn Childcare Menu and also the Autumn Afterschool Menu. The first focuses on the daytime meals and the afterschool menu includes just that.. afterschool snacks as well as dinner and weekend meals.

Lastly, this is a perfect time to break out the warm yarns and crafting supplies. Please take a look at our Autumn Handwork Ebook made just for Little Acorn Learning by our friends at Syrendell.

Wishing you a very happy November and please make sure you are on our email list to receive the November Newsletter and fun updates, activities and inspiration. xoxo

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

When my children were little they were often more excited about the Candy Fairy then they were about trick or treating on Halloween night. Every Halloween night each girl left out a big bowl of candy for The Candy Fairy. Amazingly, she just so happened to always fly down our road after they went to bed... and, in appreciation she left some treasures in return. The girls were always convinced that the more candy they left the better the surprise would be in the morning. Sometimes it was a fairy type of treasure like you see in these pictures and as they got a bit older it would often be a special toy, doll, art supplies or Lego set.

And, don't worry ... I wasn't a mean mom... each girl kept enough candy to enjoy a piece or two when they wanted a treat that week - just not a pillowcase full.

By the way, I heard the fairy visits houses any time after Halloween so you may want to see if she's heading to your neighborhood soon.

This is a wonderful time of year to introduce a
Weather Wheel or Weather Chart to your circle time. Children will delight in
looking out the window each morning to determine what type of weather is in
store for the day. You can create your Weather Chart with cardboard, watercolor
pencils, moving arrows (by using a brad to attach), colorful circles in the
center and a drawing of the Sun, Rain, Snow and Clouds. Get creative and allow
your children to participate in the process. You may like to add two arrows for
those days that the weather is more than one element. Hang your chart with
raffia and a stick found on your nature walk that day and keep it on the wall
where you do circle time each morning.Be sure to use your chart as you do your morning blessing which
signifies what the weather is each day.

Thursday, October 25, 2018

This time of year in New England is a dream for those of us who love to do nature crafts with the children.

One really fun way to display the beauty of autumn is to collect pretty leaves and flowers you find on a nature walk and preserve them to hang in a window.

I happen to have a heat laminator which makes this job much more easy. We simply lay out our nature display and put it through our laminator. It is so much fun to see it move through slowly and come out the other end like a piece of artwork.

Another wonderful option is to use wax paper and a hot iron. Simply put your leaves between two pieces of wax paper, lay a cloth or towel over it and gently iron until they stick together.

About Me

Little Acorn Learning offers monthly guides, festival e-books, menus and e-courses for parents and teachers interested in bringing a holistic approach to learning into their home or school. Visit the Little Acorn Learning website at www.littleacornlearning.com